Local News Toledo

Gubernatorial Challenger Says Kasich Hasn't Lead Economic Recovery

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WSPD) -- The race for Ohio governor is starting to heat up with less than 100 days until early voting beings.

Ed FitzGerald, the Cuyahoga County Executive and Democrat running to unseat Gov. John Kasich, sat down with Statehouse reporters to talk about the issues likely to come up during the campaign. The economy figures to be issue number one with many voters.

Kasich has painted a picture of recovery touting improving unemployment numbers, thousands of jobs, and a state budget that has a surplus and not a deficit. However, FitzGerald sees things differently.

"The promise was that his policies were going to just really ignite our economy so we started over-performing. That just hasn't happened," said FitzGerald.

He says that as he travels the state talking with people he rarely hears that they share Kasich's view of the economy.

"They never do with one or two exceptions," said FitzGerald.

Issues like gay marriage, voter rights, and medical marijuana had a shot at making it on the ballot along with the race. Many hoped they would help boost turnout and in-turn help FitzGerald, but he questions whether or not that would have happened. None of the issues qualified for the November ballot, but FitzGerald still weighed in on a couple of the issues.

FitzGerald supports gay marriage and says that, like voting rights, he wishes it was an issue that didn't have to be decided by the courts. While he hasn't announced a position on medical marijuana, the former FBI agent and prosecutor, said he's against making a decision based on politics and revenue.

"We don't legalize everything just because we could raise revenue off it," he said.

He thinks any policy on medical marijuana should be based on medical science.

The so-called "War on Women" is also expected to be something you'll hear a lot about leading up to November. FitzGerald argues that it isn't just about health care for women.

"Roughly 10 percent of the state, for instance, makes minimum wage, but most of those minimum wage workers are women," he said.

FitzGerald trails in most polls and has a big deficit to Kasich when it comes to fund raising, but it's not knocking his confidence. He expects the campaign to launch television and radio advertisements soon.

"What I'm very confident about is that when the other side of the story is heard, that's when we're going to be successful," he said.